Acknowledgments -- Introduction: an empowering approach to welfare programs -- Beyond "work first" : repressive vs. empowering welfare programs -- Encouraging work, discouraging the hustle : economic capital -- Bridging and bonding : social capital -- Pedagogy matters : cultural capital -- Education vs. therapy : comparing Lewiston and Strafford -- Conclusion: making the best of a bad policy -- Notes -- References -- Index
Summary
Pimping the System is an ethnographic study of two welfare offices that empowered welfare-reliant women by providing dominant economic, social, and cultural capital in ways that acknowledged and respected the types of capital participants already possessed. It highlights ways that policy makers and front-line workers can best assist welfare participants, and shows the potential for welfare programs to be sites of individual and community empowerment
